I am still searching for that one year when I get all four Final Four teams right.  I've gotten three correct a number of times.  I even did it a couple times with some lower-ranked teams.  I remember 1992, when I picked Indiana, Michigan, Cincinnati and Kentucky, even though Michigan and Cincinnati weren't very high seeds. I missed getting all four correct because Christian Laettner hit that turnaround shot at the buzzer to beat Kentucky in the regional final.  That one shot is as big a reason as any that I dislike Duke.

I also came very close to getting all four in 2006.  I chose top seeds UCLA and UConn, plus 3-seed Florida and 4-seed LSU.  UConn lost to George Mason in overtime of the regional final, preventing me from getting all four correct. 

If I remember right, I also got three correct in 2007.  But so did everybody, so that wasn't such a big deal.  And then in 2008 all four #1 seeds made the Final Four.  This was a prime time for getting all four correct, and a lot of people did.  But nope, I only picked two of the #1 seeds, so I only got two correct.

And that brings us to 2009.  Many of the so-called experts were picking all four #1 seeds again.  I didn't like the odds of that happening again, so I went with only two #1 seeds.  Well, there's good news and bad news.  The good news is that I was right, in that only two #1 seeds made the Final Four.  The bad news is that I chose the wrong two.  (See my previous post).  And that means I got ZERO Final Four teams correct this year.  Oops.  It's probably happened to me before.  But I can't recall a time.  Ouch. 

Well, not a good showing this year.  I guess I can't say I'm too surprised.  And this is precisely why I don't bet money on sports...

It's that time of year again.  The best two sports days of the year.  I love these first two days of the NCAA basketball tournament.  College basketball is so much different than college football.  In football, every game is so important, from the first week of the season thru the last.  But in basketball, the regular season means very little.  And the tournament is where all the action is.  The first two days, when every team plays and there are multiple games going on all the time, and there are wacky upsets all around...  that's the fun stuff!

 

So it's time to make my picks.  To be honest, I haven't watched as much college basketball as I have in the past.  I'm sure it's partly because I have a young kid and am still trying to train for a marathon.  That doesn't leave a lot of free time.  But I'm sure it's also because The Gators aren't all that great (again), having barely missed out on the tournament for the second straight year, after back-to-back national titles.  At any rate, that means my picks are more random guesses than ever...

 

The so-called experts seem to all be picking the same teams.  Everybody loves the #1 seeds (Louisville, UConn, Pitt and UNC), or maybe Memphis instead of UConn.  That's about it.  Last year, all four #1 seeds made the Final Four, but people seem to forget that it was the first and only time that has ever happened.  Dick Vitale, for example, picked all four #1 seeds for his Final Four... again!  He is not one to go out on a limb with his selections.

 

So I feel that this is a year where we could get a strange Final Four team that nobody is talking about.  So what team?  Umm, I have no idea.  In fact, my picks are almost as boring as everybody else's.  I'm going to take Louisville, Memphis, Pitt and Oklahoma.  Two #1s and two #2s.  Not exactly going out on a limb myself.  I'm not crazy about the OU pick, but if Ty Lawson is hurt for UNC, that could be a big deal. 

 

Again, I'm not crazy about my picks.  I thikn there's going to be at least one Final Four team that nobody is talking about.  But I'm not smart enough to figure out who...